Thomas Reid (1710-1796): Scottish philosopher widely regarded as the founder of the school of Scottish realism, or Common Sense philosophy. Reid interpreted the philosophy of David Hume as the skeptical outcome of the theory of ideas or mental representations begun by René Descartes and John Locke. He developed a form of realism in which sensations are not the direct objects of perception but instead are the means whereby we are directly presented with objects. His thought has had a great influence on Reformed Epistemology. Reid stressed the need to begin with an attitude of trust in our human faculties (reason, perception, memory, testimony) without insisting on rational proof of their reliability.1